Hot Topics: Sharjah Masters 2017 - page 1

4/3/2017 – The final round of the Sharjah Masters kept fans glued to their seats as they watched the final deciding games that would decide the podium. After the dust had settled, six players shared the score of 7.0/9, with Wang Hao from China taking first on tiebreak, followed by Baskaran Adhiban in second and Martyn Kravtsiv in third. Here is the final illustrated report with GM analysis from the players.

3/30/2017 – A key round, as they all are so near the finish, with nerves taking their toll as was evidenced by several games suffering from irrecoverable catastrophes early on. The biggest game of the say was Wang Hao's victory over Adhiban with black, when the Indian unwittingly entered a line the Chinese player had prepared in detail with a student! He analyzes his win with Daniel King in this illustrated report.

3/29/2017 – "Knight on the rim is dim!" Dr. Tarrasch knew right from wrong in chess. Indeed, knights on the edge of the board often lead a miserable life and can easily make life miserable for their colleagues. But no rule without exception. Which former U20 World Champion Ahmed Adly showed in round 3 of the Sharjah Masters by playing a little masterpiece with a knight on the rim.

3/29/2017 – There is a bit of a sense of 'finally' upon seeing only two players actually at the top of the hill now. Both Baskaran Adhiban and Martyn Kravtsiv scored important wins, taking them to 5.5/6. They are trailed very closely by a group of six at 5.0/6, and with three rounds to go, the final laps promise to be thrilling. Illustrated report with videos and GM analysis.

3/28/2017 – Rounds four and five of the Sharjah Master open saw the final confrontations between hugely disparate ratings, with top boards still facing as much as 600 Elo differences. It wasn’t all fun and games for the favorites though, with Gawain Jones tweeting about ‘near perfect defense’ from his 10-year-old opponent. Illustrated report with videos and analysis.

3/26/2017 – After three rounds, The Sharjah Masters still sees a generous number of players enjoying perfect scores. The nature of the accelerate pairings the organizers are employing does bring about a few oddities, with players in the second half, having faced very low-rated players, also at the top. Once again, some gems were to be found, and do not miss Daniel King and winner analyzing the astonishing (and lovely) game Ahmed Adly v Stany G A!

3/25/2017 – The second round of the Sharjah Masters continued that early mix typical of Swiss opens: unexpected underdog wins or saves, and the strong steamrolling the weak(er). Of course, it says a lot about the event that even in round one, the ‘weak’ were almost 2500. Here is the illustrated report with great videos and analysis by Daniel King and the players.

3/24/2017 – The Sharjah Masters 2017 was off to a rollicking start with about 180 players competing. While there were many upset draws, the one thing that stood out was the number of no-shows. The biggest upsets of the day were scored by the Indians—Viani Antonio Dcunha, Vignesh NR and Nihal Sarin. Illustrated report with video analyses by Daniel King.

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